Mou Ichido
by Stompystomp
Summary: A story about Elsa as she struggles with her love for her complete opposite, the confident actress Anna. (Will contain a lot of swearing)
1. Let Down

**A/N:** This is maybe a bit long for a first chapter, but I couldn't stop the words from flowing, and I had a really hard time trying to find a good ending point for the first chapter.

Thanks a lot to /u/ElsaTheQueen of reddit for helping me with the physical description of Anna. I am asexual and found that very hard, but just because I am asexual, that doesn't mean the characters have to be. Frozen belongs 100% to Disney.

Mou Ichido is Japanese and is translated to something close to "Another, please", "Once again" or "One more". The title is inspired by my favorite anime, "Toradora!".

Enjoy.

* * *

Elsa had always liked being alone. She never had many friends, only a select few had ever been invited to her birthday parties as a kid, and she'd always sat alone in class. As she got older, she had always completed school projects assigned to her alone, and she was happy with that. Not many people could keep up with her anyway. When she got old enough to get a part-time job, her dad had of course stopped giving her allowance, so the young blonde had seen that as a good sign she needed to look for work. It hadn't been long before she got a job at the local theatre, moving boxes around and helping with backstage stuff. Since she turned fifteen, she had also been put to work at the counter, selling tickets to customers. She had continued to get good grades all throughout high school, still with few or no friends to speak off aside from the ones in Chess Club, and she was about to go to college once summer vacation was over. She had, however, gotten a pretty tempting offer a couple of days ago. The theatre had a play that was about to go on tour, all across the west coast of the US, and the theatre manager, Mr. Weselton, wanted Elsa to come along as backstage help, with pay of course.

And there was one other nice thing about going on this trip. Ever since the slightly older redheaded actress named Anna had started working at the theatre, Elsa had been very confused about what was going on. Anna possessed a beauty that was beyond anything the younger blonde could ever remember. Right from the redhead's long, slender legs, her small but perfectly round butt, which showed perfectly in the jeans she always wore, toned abdomen, or at least it looked toned through the tight blouses she would wear all the time, her small perfectly sized chest, long neck filled with freckles, just like her beautiful round cheeks, placed under a pair of big, blue eyes.

So, of course, Elsa had said yes to the offer of coming along on the tour. She had actually said yes before even telling her father about the offer. She knew her dad would be a little angry about it since the tour stretched a few months into the first year of college. This conversation was gonna be hard to initiate.

* * *

The dinner was particularly silent that night. Usually, Elsa and her father discussed stuff like the current political situation, what Elsa was going to study as her major next year, or how her dad's day had been, but today, Elsa's answers had been short, and she'd barely touched her food, only poking at most of it with her fork. "Penny for your thoughts," she heard her dad say after a few minutes of silence since his last question.

_Just tell him, it can't be that hard._

- "Dad, I have-" she started off, but bit her lower lip after thinking it through "No, it's nothing."

- "Come on, sweetheart, you can talk to me about anything, you know that," her father said, smiling at her with a comforting tone in his voice.

_Okay, here goes._

- "I got an offer at the theatre," Elsa finally said weakly.

-"Wonderful news! Any offer at your job is a great opportunity, not only for more money, but for work experience, adventures, new colleagues and all sorts of other things, but you know all this, we talked about this when you got allowed to work in the tickets sale."

Her father got up and walked to Elsa, picking her up with his arms around her in a big hug, the kind of hug she had always liked, and she almost didn't want to continue to talk about the job offer. It'd ruin his mood very quickly.

_You can't do this to him. He does nothing but love you, and this is how you repay him? By chasing after some fling of yours?_

- "I already said yes," she said while hugging her dad. He was just about to say something, but she stopped him with a finger to her lip. "There's more to it, though. It's a five month long tour," she continued. Her heart fell as she saw her dad's expression turn slowly from one of excitement to concern.

- "When do you leave?" he asked.

_This is when you break his heart._

- "In two months," she said and bit her lower lip, breaking off the hug to take a few steps away. Her father was silent for a minute. A minute that felt like an eternity as she tried to anticipate his answer.

_Come on, say something. You can't just stay silent forever. I know this is against our carefully laid plans, but I have to do this, and there's no going back now._

Her father finally did something. He turned away and started to clean the table, putting the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. "If this is your decision, I will not stand against it. You are almost a grown woman, and you should make your own choices soon," he said. This was not the answer Elsa had expected. He should be furious and shout at her, that was what she had expected, what she wanted. Not this. His voice was cold and very matter-of-factly. It was almost as hearing him talk to one of his colleagues on the phone when they hadn't done their part to complete a project. Elsa started helping to clean up after the dinner, but none of them said anything.

When they were done, Elsa sat course for her room, but she turned around in the doorway out of the kitchen. "Thank you for understanding," she said wistfully before continuing the short journey.

Once in her room, she closed and locked the door behind her and felt the emptiness starting to well up inside her. Walking to her bed, she fished her phone out of her pocket and started to write a text message. She only had a handful of contacts in her phone, and the one she used the most was Olaf's. '_I told him,' _was all she wrote, knowing Olaf would know what Elsa was talking about. And with that, she turned her phone off, dropped it on the floor, plumped down onto her bed, face first and turned around to stare at the ceiling.

_You've failed him. Just like your mother did fourteen years ago. How can you do this to him? He has done nothing but love and support you, even when no one else wanted to, and now you just shit on the fact that he's the one paying for your education _and _you do it only because you want to stare at Anna for five months? Way to go, paying him back._

Commotion outside her door, broke her self-loathing train of thought, and someone, probably her father, tried to open the door, only to find it locked. "Good night Elsa," he said from the other side of the door. "I love you, always remember that. All the way up to the stars and back again." Foot steps sounded as her father walked away. The familiar phrase he had always used to tell her how much he loved her was the last drop. Elsa sat up on her bed and burst into silent tears. She put her head in her hands, sobbing like a baby.

- "I love you too, Dad," she whispered.


	2. Anticipation

**A/N:** I know I said that it would probably take a really long time for the second chapter to come out, but to be honest, I received a lot more positive feedback and support about this than I anticipated. And getting such support really made me want to write more stuff, and so I did. Luckily, it felt very natural to write more for this fic. Don't expect these quick updates to become a regular thing, though.

I also know this chapter doesn't carry the same kind of intensity the first one did, but I'm building to something.

* * *

Elsa woke early the next day. It was Saturday, and the dress rehearsal for the play going on tour was tonight. The parents of all involved parties had of course been invited to come and watch it, but Elsa hadn't given her father the invitation yet.

Getting out of bed, she turned on her phone and walked over to where she had put her laptop yesterday afternoon. She input her pin code into the old phone as she sat down and waited for her computer to get ready. She didn't even have anything special to do on the computer, but she might as well check the news or something. Before she even managed to open her web browser, the Motorola V620 she was still using after all these years vibrated. She expected the text to be from Olaf, and her expectations got confirmed when she flipped it open. '_Wanna come over for coffee or something?' _his text asked. They never really drank coffee, but that was just what the two of them said when they wanted to know if the other was okay or wanted to talk. '_I'll be over in about an hour,' _she replied back and started browsing the web. After fifteen minutes of looking at local news, Elsa got bored and decided to go see what was happening on Facebook. Not a lot went on there when you only have 30-something friends registered, but sometimes there were games to play there, and stuff. She saw that Anna had posted something about the dress rehearsal tonight '_Nervous for tonight! Luckily it's just a dress rehearsal,'_. Elsa stared at her picture for a short time before deciding to post something as a reply. '_You'll do good, I'm sure of it!'_ she posted back and smiled.

After playing a game for some time, Elsa got a notification. Anna had apparently liked her comment. Abandoning the game, Elsa clicked the notification, followed by a click on Anna's name. Her cover photo was one of her on the stage.

_God, she's so beautiful_

Elsa started browsing the pictures of Anna. She had so many friends, had apparently been pretty popular in high school, too. Elsa smiled when she found a close-up picture of Anna's face, smiling at whoever had taken the picture. She had the most beautiful smile, and those freckles made Elsa's heart melt.

_What can I do to make you see me the way I want you to? You know I exist, but do you even think about me? Of course you don't. I'm just some lowly stagehand that mops up the floor when you smash a watermelon with a hammer or makes sure your costumes are hanging in the right order on the coat rack._

A vibrating sensation in the table broke Elsa out of her thoughts and she looked down at the phone. The front display glowed blue, telling her that another message had arrived. She flipped open her phone and saw it was from Olaf. '_Elsa! It's been almost two hours now. You alright?' _he asked. She glanced at the clock on the top of her phone's screen. Oh God, it had actually been almost two hours since she last wrote to her friend. '_Yeah, sorry. I'll jump on my bike now,'_ she texted him back and shut down her laptop. She got dressed, slipped her phone back into its pocket and grabbed the dress rehearsal invitation out of her bag before leaving her room. The smell of coffee didn't meet her nose as she left the comfort of her own space, which meant her father was still asleep. Not wanting to wake him, Elsa put the invitation by the coffee maker alongside a note, saying '_Hope you make it.'_

* * *

Elsa was almost halfway to Olaf's place when her phone vibrated again. She stopped and pulled off to the side to check it. Olaf had sent another text. '_You were Facebook-stalking her again, weren't you?' _ he asked. Elsa elected not to answer that text and got back on her bike, continuing her ride to her friend's house.

Olaf had been living alone for several years now, after being kicked out by his mom when he didn't accept her new boyfriend. Or, well, that's what he told strangers and people he didn't really care about. The truth was that he had told his mother many times that bad things would happen if she stayed with the guy, and he had been right the last time, but she wouldn't listen this time either, so he left after a particularly big fight. He had then lived with Elsa and her dad for a few months before finally getting his own place.

She knocked on his door, and Olaf answered within a few seconds, inviting her inside with a warm hug. "You know I don't really like hugs, Olaf," Elsa said after reciprocating his action.

- "And you know I love them," he retorted with a goofy smile. "You even agreed that I could hug you from time to time."

_I know I did, but I still don't like it_

- "I bought you a Coke, it's in the fridge," Olaf continued as he walked toward the couch that doubled as his bed. Elsa nodded and smiled at him as she got the coke out of the fridge before taking the three steps needed to get over to the couch. Olaf's place was small. His kitchen, living room and bedroom were the same room, with a small, closed off entrance, a bathroom almost the size of the living room and a little built-in closet in the entrance.

They had been watching TV for a few minutes before Olaf said something. "You didn't answer my text." He still looked at the screen.

- "I didn't want to," Elsa answered, also staring at some lame TV show about some people on an island. Elsa hated these shows, but Olaf loved them. This was how all their serious talks happened. They always stared at the screen, watching something Olaf wanted to, none of them really paying attention to the TV. Elsa liked it this way. It felt less… real. She could take a step back.

- "Because I was right?"

_Yes._

- "No," Elsa lied.

- "Whatever, it's none of my business anyway. How did your dad take the news?"

- "Not too well. He clammed up, used his business voice and told me it was my own decision."

- "Ouch."

- "Yeah."

Silence fell over the two once again. Elsa's mouth had dried up, so she finished her Coke, still staring at the screen. At least the girls in this shitty show were pretty.

- "How are you feeling about it?" Olaf finally asked when the credits rolled, this time looking at her. She looked away.

- "Not too good. I mean, I've let him down in a way no one has since my mom left him," she said and fished out her phone, looking at the blue lit front screen. "Look, I have to be at work in an hour. I'm sorry for being late, but I have to go," she said and got up, ready to walk away as she stuffed the phone back into her pocket. Olaf grabbed her arm.

- "I'll walk there with you. You need to talk to someone, and that's gonna be me."

_Great, now he won't even let me alone with my thoughts. Just like Dad usually won't._

- "I'm okay, Olaf. I just need some time alone. I'll come over again tomorrow, we'll talk then," she said, and with that, she left and hopped on her bike, ready to help Anna at the dress rehearsal.


	3. Rehearsal

**A/N:**This one is a long chapter, guys! I'm sorry if it's a bit, too long, but there just never felt to be a natural ending to things before I got there. Once again, thank you guys so much! I had never thought I'd receive so much great support for this project. This is my first time writing fiction that's not all about fighting giant steam robots, so it's really new territory to me.

I have some news, too. I have decided to switch to a two-chapter release schedule, meaning that I won't release chapters unless I have two to release. Even though it's probably not true, I feel like this is going to afford me some sort of control I wouldn't have otherwise.

Secondly, I've retconned a few things. Mainly, I realized my timeline was all wrong, so instead of there being two months before the tour leaves, it's two weeks. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. I hope you enjoy these next two chapters!

* * *

Later that evening, Elsa, the cast and the rest of the crew that were going on tour in slightly less than two months were sitting in the backroom, eating dinner. It was something they always did on the evenings of dress rehearsals, and then again a few days later on the day of the premiere. Elsa always enjoyed these dinners. They were the times when she got closest to Anna without being alone with her, which would probably be way too awkward.

It had actually happened once before, being alone with Anna, that is. Elsa had stayed late, cleaning up a bit of stuff, settling the accounts and she was also on closing duty that day. Apparently, Anna had stayed behind, too, after that night's rehearsal to practice some lines or her mimicry or something, Elsa wasn't really too sure. She wanted to know about it, she really did, but when the redhead told her about it, all Elsa could do was stare at her with a weird smile and think about how lucky she was that Anna would talk to her. It had gotten really awkward when Anna had asked her a question and all Elsa did was stare and nod, still with that weird smile. The other girl's expression had grown more and more concerned until she caressed Elsa on the cheek and asked if she was okay. Elsa flushed and stammered something akin to an acknowledgement and made up an excuse for why she needed to throw Anna out of the building before she could close up, which had taken an enormous amount of emotional strength as acting dominantly towards her crush wasn't really something that came natural to Elsa.

But these dinners were different. They were often between 12 or 15 people there, and Anna was more often than not seated among the other actors, chatting with them and sharing tricks for when they got on the stage. Elsa was rarely even close to them, so she could stare and smile at Anna all she wanted without her noticing. A few of the other members of the backstage crew were more than aware of Elsa's crush, namely the two rather large haulers, Oaken and Mark, or Marshmallow as he was called because of his incredibly soft and sweet personality. These were the two other people Elsa would dare to call her friends, even though they were nowhere near as close to her as Olaf was. Oaken had worked at the theatre for years when Elsa had started, and he had somehow acted as her mentor in how stuff was done around here. Marshmallow had started only a few months after her, immediately being hired as a hauler. Today was not much different. Elsa, Oaken and Marshmallow sat at the very end of the table, the two men discussing something while Elsa stared off to the other end, smiling as she enjoyed the view. Anna was laughing at something Hans, the male lead, had said. Elsa had had a sneaking suspicion that something was going on between the two for a quite some time now. Hans wasn't that funny, and yet Anna laughed at almost everything he said. And he touched her way too much, and not just during rehearsals. Even now, he was caressing her shoulder while he ate pizza with the other hand.

_Stop touching her, you disgusting little shit. You're not a good person, you'll end up hurting her if the two of you continue this comical display of half-hearted affection. I have no doubt Anna's actually sincere about her feelings for you, but you're just out to use her in some way, I can feel it in my guts._

Elsa had apparently been mumbling some of these words out loud, and the big guys on her sides had noticed. "Don't you think I'm right, Elsa?" Oaken had asked her, referencing whatever topic the two of them had been discussing. She could see the older man was concerned about something she had said, but this was just how it always went with him and Marshmallow. Whenever they noticed something was up with their younger female friend, they quickly tried to take her mind off whatever had been on her mind and then they'd ask about it a few days later.

- "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked, knowing the men knew she had no idea what the fuck they had asked her.

- "We were just discussing the latest episode of Game of Thrones, and-"

- "You know I don't watch TV, Oaken," Elsa cut off her friend, almost snapping at him.

- "You watched that Parks and Recreation show," Marshmallow countered her statement.

_Because I had nothing better to do._

- "Yeah, but that was funny as shit," she said and did her best to fake a warm grin at the two bigger men. They returned to their discussion, and Elsa returned to her thoughts.

She didn't like this Hans character. He was relatively new at the theatre, and she had no idea why, but there was just something that told her he was a bad person, and she couldn't pinpoint what it was. Olaf had often told her that those kind of instincts were rarely wrong, and to her experience, Olaf had only been wrong about a handful of times in the time they'd known each other, so she trusted that he knew what he was talking about.

After the cast and crew had finished dinner, the actors and the make-up artists went off to do their thing, the band went onto the stage to prepare their instruments and do one last run-through of the intro song, and Elsa and the rest of the backstage crew got into the swing of things, preparing everything, just as they had practiced many times before.

* * *

Elsa was responsible for a couple of things. First of all, she had to make sure the costumes were hanging in the right order on the coat rack. The actors had no time to check if the new costume was the right one, they just barely had time to put it on. She considered for a few moments to hang Hans's costumes in the wrong order to screw with him, but when she thought it through, that would more likely come back to her in a bad way than it would reflect badly on Hans, so she decided against it. Second of all, she was in charge of making sure the hollowed-out watermelons were full of boiled spaghetti and fake blood so Anna could smash them and splatter the front rows in fake gore. The play was some sort of rock musical about a female axe murderess back in the 1800's by the name of Lizzie Borden. The story was pretty interesting, but Elsa had other stuff to think about at the moment. The dress rehearsal was set to start in ten minutes, and Elsa still wasn't half done with her duties.

As the first act played out, Elsa stood back and leaned against one side of the stage, making sure no one in the audience could see her, but she could see them. She'd watched most of the play before, so she wasn't really paying attention to the current scene. Anna wasn't in it anyway. She surveyed the crowd, trying to spot her dad. It took some time, but she finally saw him.

_He showed up! Fuck yes! That must mean he's not entirely mad at me._

The fact that her father had showed up to this dress rehearsal showed Elsa that at least some part of her dad had to be in support of her decision, and it warmed her deeply. Maybe everything was going to be alright after all. She was going to talk to him about it tonight. They were leaving in two weeks, and Elsa wanted everything between her and her dad to be good when she left. It'd eat away at her conscience like acid otherwise, and when she came back, it would probably be even worse.

Elsa was forced out of her thoughts as Kaj, the crew manager, signaled that the watermelon scene was just about to start, and Elsa and another member of the backstage crew rushed to grab one of the hollowed-out watermelons, hurrying onto the stage in their anonymous black t-shirts and jeans, placing them on the on-stage table. A third member placed an axe on the scene, and before long, all of the backstage crew was just that again, backstage. Elsa watched in amazement as Anna laughed maniacally, smashing the watermelons with the axe, spraying the fake gore over the crowd, followed by her bending over to pick some of it and practically bathe herself in the fake blood and intestines.

_Oh, god, even when she's smeared in fake blood, her ass is perfect. How does she do it?_

But it was not just her body that Elsa admired, of course her red hair held a certain attraction to the shy blonde, too, but the way Anna could slip in and out of a character's personality with the same ease as when Elsa took her clothes off at night was downright amazing. Normally, Anna was the kindest, most caring person she had ever met, but Elsa had by now seen her crush take on the role of everything from evil stepmom as her first role at the theatre, heartless housewife, and now this, a criminally insane axe murderess. It was astounding, and she didn't even seem the least bit uncomfortable acting stuff like this out. As the heavy rock song that played during the murder scene died down, so did the lights, and the backstage crew once again set into motion. They had to clean the stage and the three front rows as well as set up a few new props for the second act within the next ten minutes while the crowd enjoyed the interlude. Even this part of Elsa's job was great, she thought as she cleaned up fake gore and listened to the actors laughing with Anna about how insane her eyes had been this time.

* * *

After the dress rehearsal was over, the cast and crew met on-stage for feedback. The director was very pleased with their performance, and he commended them, expecting the same performance on opening night the following Monday. After the little pow-wow, everyone started cleaning up, and about 11 PM, Elsa was ready to leave. She bed everyone a good night and walked out of the door, shooting Anna a last goofy smile as she left. She was surprised to see the redhead smile back and wave at her in a way Elsa had rarely seen her do before. It was almost as when she looked at Hans. Some sort of an affectionate glimmer in her eyes. Elsa blushed and her head began swimming with thoughts as she lightheadedly stepped out of the door and into the alley behind the theatre.

_My God, what was that? Why did she smile at me like that? Did she notice me staring during dinner? I hope she did. I mean, if she did and she liked me staring, wouldn't that be how she'd react? Don't kid yourself Elsa. You don't know how people work, not even yourself, so how would you know what an appropriate reaction would be?_

Elsa walked towards her bike at the bike rack, fishing for her keys in her front left pocket of her jacket. She felt a swirl of confusing, opposite emotions fill her. It was some mix of butterflies in her stomach from excitement, a tight, black knot of fear in her stomach, lightheaded expectations in her brain and a heating sensation between her legs, and even some emotions she didn't recognize. This tour was going to be both the greatest and most difficult time of her life.

At the bike rack, she couldn't find her bike. In her confusion, she looked all around her and still couldn't find it. Foot steps approached, but she didn't hear them, her head filled with thoughts of Anna and both fear and excitement about what was going to happen. A heavy hand placed itself on her shoulder and started to turn her around, but Elsa was quicker and took a step away, turning around by her own accord instead of that of the stranger. Ready to defend herself, she crouched down and put her fists up, even though she knew she'd probably be unable to do anything against her assailant.

"I'm parked right over here, your bike is in the back," her father said, smiling away.

_Fuck, you scared me! Don't sneak up on me and scare me like that!_

- "Oh, so that's where it is?" Elsa asked, trying to mask that her voice was shaking, both from the fear of being attacked and from the confusing mess of feelings that were still assaulting her mind.

- "Did I scare you?" he asked as they walked to the car. He opened the door for her, waiting for her to get in. "It was a great show, by the way."

- "No, you didn't, I was just a little surprised. And thanks, though I'm not doing much," Elsa said and smiled as she got into the car.

- "Don't say that," her father comforted her and placed a hand on her left shoulder when he had gotten in. "Do you think the show would go on if no one helped the actors prepare?"

- "No, of course not," Elsa said and smiled. Silence descended over the little family of two as her father set the course for home. Not long passed before she broke it, though. "Dad, we need to talk," she began and stopped him from responding by placing a finger to her lip when he started to speak. "I need you to understand that I'm not agreeing to go on this tour just to spite you. I'm not doing it because I don't like you. I'm not even doing it because I need to get away. It's just, I don't know, something I feel like I need to do. I don't want you to misunderstand."

Her father was silent for a few seconds before answering. "I understand that, and seeing as you're more or less an adult by now, it's only fair that you can choose your own path. But you also have to know that I am a bit disappointed that you're more or less letting me pay for six weeks of college that you won't even attend to."

- "I do understand that, and I promise you that I'll even pay you back if you want me to, but this is something I have to do. I'll tell you why when I come home. I just want everything to be okay between us before I leave."

- "Elsa, dear, there's nothing you could do that'd make me stop loving you. Everything will always be okay between us. I love you all the way up to the stars and back, remember?" he said with a loving grin and looked over at her. She looked back and leaned in over the gear stick to give him a kiss on the cheek and a one-arm hug. "Thanks," she said and the rest of the trip home was completed in silence, but this time, it was not an uncomfortable one.


	4. It's a Date

A little under two weeks passed with nothing particularly interesting happening. The premiere of the play went almost perfectly with only a few minor mistakes that very few people would have noticed. It got some good reviews in the local papers and on the web a lot of people were writing positive reviews, except for a few people who were stating that Anna was exaggerating the insanity of her character. Anna hadn't taken that too well, but the other actors had comforted her, telling her that getting one or two bad reviews is commonplace, and that she should focus on the larger amount of great reviews. Her dad was going to take Elsa and Olaf for dinner on Saturday as a sort of 'farewell and good luck' gesture before she left on Sunday, and he knew she'd want Olaf to be there, too. He'd also told her that she could invite one more person if she wanted, but Elsa was pretty sure it was just gonna be the three of them, though, and she quite liked it that way.

Elsa had been wrestling with the sea of emotions for the first couple of days, but as time went on, some of them died down, and left had only been the fear and the butterflies. Those hadn't gone away at any time, however, and now she was getting tired of them. They were dormant most of the time by now, but they resurfaced every time she thought of or saw Anna, or even a picture of her. And it didn't help that Anna smiled the same way she had that day every time she saw the hell was going on? Didn't Anna have something going with Hans?

Since it was summer vacation, Elsa had not much else to do than go to work in the evenings, where her feelings were tearing her apart, or sit around at home or at Olaf's place, and since the tour was leaving soon, she had decided she'd take a couple of days to herself. Her father's holiday unfortunately wouldn't start until the day after she was gone, so she had the four-room flat all to herself. The blinds in her room were closed, leaving it bathed in the light of her laptop's screen. She knew that one of the residents in the building across the street had a telescope, and she feared that they might be using it to spy on the building she lived in, so her blinds were always closed. It kinda suited her to be in the darkness, though. There was a strange sort of comfort about it. She had spent the last couple of hours playing Bejeweled on Facebook. She'd had the highest score among her 30 friends for quite some time, but that wasn't really the reason she played it. To her, it was a no-stress, no-brainer game that she could relax completely with.

* * *

Between levels, she noticed that the sidebar displaying her friends and their Facebook related activities had updated to show that Anna was online. She hesitated for some seconds, but curiosity and the need to talk with her crush overwhelmed her, so she opened up a conversation with the girl. '_Hey Anna!' _she wrote. When no reply came in the first few seconds, Elsa added '_Excited about leaving the day after tomorrow?'_

_She's probably busy, commenting on something one of her many friends posted, or she's laughing at a funny picture. Oh dear God, that laugh. She could probably cure cancer with it if modern medical science found a way of putting it in pill form._

_- 'hey Elsa! yeah going on tour is gonna be great :) this is my first tour though so im pretty nervous' _the reply came. Elsa's heart skipped a few beats and the butterflies won out over fear and lack of self confidence as she read the lines. A happy feeling started spreading in her, too, and a smile crept its way onto her face as she bit her lower lip, starting to formulate a reply.

_- 'Hehe, don't worry. It's my first tour, too, so we can be newbies together :P' _for some reason a smiley seemed appropriate here. Elsa rarely used any form of emoticon or smiley, she didn't really see the point in using them if they got in the way of proper grammar. Yeah, they displayed emotions in a way most people had trouble doing through regular text. Oh, and they were a lot quicker, which Olaf had told her was the reason most people used them, as well as the reason most people didn't bother using proper grammar on the Internet.

_- 'yay! now i dont feel so alone anymore. its gonna be good having you along Elsa. youre a good friend!' _

_A good friend? Is that all? I mean, yeah, I'd be fine with just being your friend if it means I can be close to you more often, but I kinda want a bit more._

_- 'Aw, thanks Anna! You're a really good friend, too. You have a beautiful smile, by the way!' _Elsa replied back, biting at the nail on her right thumb as she waited for an answer. A lot more time passed before Anna sent something back this time. Facebook even updated the messenger to show Elsa that Anna had seen the message.

_Shit. Fuck. Was that inappropriate? Have I made a stupid move? Fuck. I've just fucked everything up completely, haven't I?_

Elsa got up from her chair, walking a bit away from the desk and towards the large, pink stuffed rabbit that she'd had since she was a little child. She had very creatively called it 'Rabbit', after the rabbit character of Winnie the Pooh. The last couple of years, it hadn't spent much time as her comfort when she was sad or sick, though, but had turned into something she kicked around whenever she got frustrated with everything that was going on around her. It had been kicked a lot during the last two weeks, and she figured that even if toys had feelings, it was probably getting used to the rough treatment now, so she kicked Rabbit once more, watching it thud harmlessly against the door. Feeling a bit of her frustrations leave her, she walked toward the stuffed toy again and was just about to kick it when her computer made a noise. She turned around and walked back to the computer, standing behind the chair as she read the new message.

_- 'aaaawww, thats so sweet of you to say. you have a really pretty smile, too. and i like your braid, even when it's put up during plays.' _All of the frustration that had filled her being less than a minute ago was replaced with butterflies and joy just as quickly as it had snuck its way into her soul. Smiling and giggling like a madman, Elsa could do little more than smile and giggle as she stood behind her chair. She sprinted back to Rabbit, picked it up and hugged it tight before releasing a high-pitched squeal into it. She looked, gazing towards her laptop with the toy still in her grasp. She walked over to sit, unable to restrain herself from writing a reply to her crush.

_- 'oh my god, thank you so much! it's so rare i get compliments like this,' _Elsa wrote back, hitting the return button on her keyboard harder than she'd ever done before. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest, making her feel like it was going to explode, and she barely cared about grammar at this point. '_oh, by the way, my dad is taking a friend and i out for dinner tomorrow as a farewell gift, and he told me I could bring one more person. do you wanna come along?' _she asked quickly before Anna could respond to the previous message. She pulled her legs up under her and hugged Rabbit tighter than she'd done in years. It felt good to have something pressed against her chest right now. The weirdest emotions were battling for dominance inside her right now. The by-now-familiar butterflies were fluttering around like never before, her heart was pounding, her mouth was dry, and that heating sensation between her legs was back. And yet, there was the fear again, rearing its ugly head like a viper, ready to strike her down. The next minute felt like an eternity as she waited for Anna to reply. Again, she had already seen the message.

_Stupid fucking me. Why would she ever go with me and my family to dinner? First of all, I'm just some backstage crew member at her job, and second, her schedule is probably already full anyway._

_- 'i just checked my schedule, and it's kinda full until 4 pm. is it after that time?'_

_- 'Yeah, it's 6 PM at the Mexican place in the middle of town. You know the place?' _

_- 'you kidding me? i fucking love the place! its almost as good as chocolate! ill see you there at 6 tomorrow then :)' _Anna wrote, the excitement in her voice easy to imagine Elsa was happy now. Really happy. Anna hadn't said no without explanation or said that it would be weird or anything, just a yes, and an excited one at that. '_Yeah, I'll see you then :D' Here's my number if you need it: _she wrote back, adding her number at the end and quickly closed the lid on her laptop before running to her bed, squealing into Rabbit's stomach as she tried to contain her happiness.

* * *

At dinner that night, her father smiled at her and said "You seem more happy today than I've seen you in a couple of days. Did anything special happen today?"

_Yeah, my fucking crush agreed to go to dinner with me! Never mind that you and Olaf are going too, she fucking agreed to meet with me in public off-set!_

- "No, not really. Guess it's just been a really good day," Elsa lied and grinned at her dad, rice and meat in her mouth. "Oh, by the way, I'm bringing one of the girls from the theatre along tomorrow. When she heard that we were going to that Mexican place, she practically begged to come along, so I couldn't refuse," she continued lying.

- "Oh good! The more the merrier! Which one of the girls is it? I'm assuming one of the backstage crew?"

- "No, it's actually the female lead, Anna," Elsa said and beamed at her dad. He smiled back and said that he couldn't wait to actually meet the talented young lady. Her dad continued talking for a while about some stuff with his job, but Elsa wasn't really listening. She was too busy thinking about Anna and the dinner tomorrow.


	5. Dinner and a Goodbye

The next evening, Elsa and her dad were ready to leave for dinner. Elsa had put on her finest casual dress, hoping to impress Anna without seeming too eager to do so or making things seem too formal. It was a simple, yet elegant strapless sky blue summer dress that stayed up with the help of a zipper on the back and a see-through sleeve on each arm. The dress was long enough that it wasn't revealing, but short enough it didn't seem too modest. Accompanying it was a pair of white slipper-sandals that were both pretty and quite comfortable at the same time. Elsa had spent quite some time picking out this outfit.

On the way to the restaurant, they had to pick up Olaf, so they went around to his place first, and Elsa got out to greet him. "What's with the dress?" he asked after forcing another hug upon her.

_None of your business Olaf, but it's all for Anna._

- "What, can't a girl put on something nice once in a while?" Elsa said jokingly and escorted Olaf back to the car, getting into the front seat herself. After they'd gotten in and her dad and Olaf had greeted each other, her father asked if they were going to pick Anna up. "No, she's meeting us there," was Elsa's short reply, and heard the faint buzz of her phone in the small purse she'd had to bring along since there weren't any pockets in her current outfit. '_It's for her, isn't it? The dress, I mean,' _Olaf had asked in a text, clearly aware that this wasn't exactly information she wanted to share with her old man. Once again, Elsa elected not to answer the question, soon receiving another text from her friend '_I'm gonna take your silence as confirmation. I'm really looking forward to meeting this Anna :)' _it said, and Elsa couldn't help but smile. She knew Olaf didn't entirely approve of her feelings for the ginger actor, but only because he hadn't met her before.

* * *

When they arrived at Buena Comida, Anna was already outside, waiting. She was wearing a pair of short cowboy shorts and a loose purple shirt that hung loosely around her body, not at all like the tight blouses she usually wore. It exposed a bit of her bra, and Elsa had to suppress a lighthearted giggle, when she just about burst with joy and excitement, resulting in her only blushing. Anna's hair was done up in twin braids that resembled thinner versions of the one Elsa usually fashioned her own hair into. Either she had dyed a single strand of her beautiful ginger hair, or she had put an extension in just for tonight, because one strand of her hair that was twisted into the braid was blonde, almost the same blonde as Elsa's own natural hair color. Elsa hoped for the former of the two options since it seemed like the smarter decision.

Elsa's dad parked the car on the other side of the street and Elsa practically jumped out of the car, halfway skipping across the road to get to Anna in a hurry. When she got there, she grind to a halt, a strange fear gripping her suddenly.

_My God… What the hell do I say to her? I haven't thought this through at all!_

Anna came closer and hugged Elsa "Thank you so much for inviting me along," she said and broke off the hug, shooting her that glorious smile of hers. Elsa felt like she was in heaven. This was the first time Anna had touched her at all, and it was even a hug. For just a moment, everything she adored in the entire world had been pressed up against her body, and the sensation of finally finding out what her crush smelled like was almost too much of Elsa to bear. As Anna took a step away, she extended her hand and bowed, greeting Elsa's dad and Olaf.

_No, come back, don't go away now! I need more, this can't be the end of it. It was so short! I need you!_

Elsa smiled at Anna, trying to act cool about the situation, but not mastering it entirely. "N-no problem at all! I'm just happy you wanted to come along," she stuttered, her voice shaking. They went inside, and her father told the hostess that they'd reserved a table for four. The middle aged, yet attractive woman then looked in her book of reservations for about half a minute before looking up and smiling, telling them to follow her. She led them upstairs to a table that was in a secluded corner. She placed four menus on the table and told them to just stick a hand in the air when they were ready to order, and a waiter would be right with them. She then smiled and bowed before leaving.

The little group spent a couple of minutes, idly chatting over what was on the menu, Elsa keeping her mouth shut most of the time, not wanting to say anything embarrassing or inappropriate. Her dad kept asking Anna questions about how it was to be up on stage, throwing spaghetti and fake blood at people, or other stuff related to the only play he'd ever seen Anna in, and she kept responding politely, not at all in the manner Elsa was used to her redheaded crush talking. Olaf just watched and observed like he always did when he was assessing whether or not a new person was good enough to be around. The fact that he hadn't shot Elsa a glance told her that Anna was doing good so far. When they were finally ready to order, Olaf and Anna got a couple burritos each, her dad ordered tacos and Elsa ordered a bowl of chili con carne, one of her favorite foods. The waiter then asked about which drinks they wanted, Elsa was just about to just order a tall glass of water when her dad cut in "Can we have a bottle of red wine?" he asked the waiter, who nodded and smiled before going away.

Elsa stared in disbelief at her father, who just chuckled. "What? You're all at least eighteen or more, right?" he asked and then looked at Anna with a slightly concerned look.

- "Oh, yes sir, I am over eighteen," she giggled and responded. Once again, Elsa's heart melted right then and there, just by hearing her wonderful laughter and seeing the amused expression on her face.

- "Good! Well, I'm gonna have just a single glass. Some of us need to be able to drive, right?" he continued and winked at Elsa, who just shook her head, sighing and smiling in a surrendering way at her father.

Anna and her dad kept talking and laughing a bit more while they waited for the food, and Elsa just sat there, enjoying the company, as well as the wine, which she had to admit was particularly good.

Olaf was still just observing, but finally joined in on the conversation when the food arrived, cracking one of his horrible pirate jokes as he did. "Why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet?" he directed the question at Anna, doing his best imitation of a pirate-like accent. Anna just looked at him quizzically and bit her lower lip for a second before answering.

- "I don't know, Olaf, why does a pirate take so long to learn the alphabet?"

- "Because he's stuck at C! Yaaarrrr!" Olaf half-yelled, delivering the punch line with expertise. Elsa had heard him crack that particular joke a thousand times before, and it was still kinda funny, so she chuckled, as did her dad. Anna, however, must not have heard this joke before, because she was cracking up, laughing hysterically. Elsa was shocked that such a booming, noisy laughter could leave such a small girl. The people at the other tables on the upper floor turned their heads, making Anna shut up as quickly as she'd started laughing. Taking a sip of her wine, she choked down another burst of laughter, blushing like a madman.

- "God, this is awkward. Not you're awkward! Just.. We… I'm awkward, I mean, you're gorgeous! Wait, what?" Anna rambled, directing the last part of the sentence towards Elsa, twisting and twirling one of her braids as she spoke before blushing even more. "I'm gonna stop talking now."

_Did she just call me gorgeous? She just fucking did, didn't she? It must have been the wine. Yeah, that explains it. She's just a bit tipsy, there's no way she'd actually say that on purpose._

Olaf and her dad were just laughing softly at Anna's sudden outburst of awkwardness. "Not a common thing for an actress to get embarrassed like that," Olaf commented, taking a large bite of his burrito before smiling at her and Elsa, shooting the latter of the two a wink.

Her dad didn't seem to notice his daughter blushing and glancing over at Olaf with an expression that told him to shut up, but she did. After another sip at her wine, Anna finally replied to Olaf "No, it's not, but I'm not on-stage right now, and there's some weird comfort in being on the stage, acting. People aren't really paying attention to me, you know?" she said, giving a more explanatory answer than what Elsa had expected.

- "Don't worry about it, Anna. We barely even notice a bit of awkwardness in our little family," her dad said and smiled at the two girls sat on the opposite side of the table, and something told Elsa that her father might not be as ignorant about the situation as she had hoped he'd be.

_Does he know? He's not that stupid, but it can't be that obvious._

"How's your food, Dad?" Elsa asked sweetly, taking a sip of her wine, realizing it was almost empty. Olaf made a gesture, as if asking if she wanted more wine. Elsa nodded and Olaf delivered. She could feel herself getting more than slightly tipsy by now, perhaps even slipping into the realm of being actually drunk. Not something Elsa did normally, but this was a special occasion.

- "It's great, sweetheart," he replied and took another bite of the taco, spilling some of the colorful filling onto his plate.

- "That's good, I don't wanna make more food for you when we get home," she winked at her dad and started to get out of her chair, breaking off the others before they could ask. "Oh, I'm just going to the bathroom."

Anna started to get up, too. "I'll come with you," she said and smiled sweetly at the blonde girl. It was that smile again, and Elsa could feel her heart pounding faster than she'd remembered it doing ever. It was probably a mix of the alcohol and Anna's clumsy ramble ten minutes earlier.

- "No, it's alright, I just need to splash some water in my face," Elsa said, her voice clearly shaking from the pounding in her chest. She let out a small chuckle as she started for the bathroom.

- "Oh, me, too," Anna said in a tone Elsa couldn't really place in any context she'd experienced before. The smaller ginger girl then followed her into the bathroom where Elsa went to a sink as soon as she got inside. She turned on the water and bent over, letting some water spill into her cupped hands before splattering it on her face a couple of times before looking into the mirror. It was a good thing she had decided to wear waterproof makeup. It still got a bit ruined, but it could have been a lot worse.

_Calm down Elsa. Your dad might know, but it's not like that's the end of the world. Olaf knows, you've told him, and he obviously likes Anna. He even used that lame pirate joke on her. And Anna's ramble was probably just a combination of a panic attack and a bit too much alcohol. Everything is gonna be just fine._

Still caught up in her thoughts, Elsa turned around and started to walk towards the paper towel dispenser. She'd need a bit of those to clean up her face and get rid of what little ruined makeup would be left after her quick face wash. She was maybe a bit too caught up in her thoughts, as she didn't manage to notice herself walking right into Anna's open and waiting arms.

Feeling the warmth of her crush's embrace slowly wrapping itself around her was the single most exhilarating sensation Elsa had ever experienced. She did nothing but stand there for what felt like an eternity before she finally gathered the courage to look up into Anna's face. She met those wonderful turquoise eyes and almost got lost in them before she noticed them slowly moving closer, closing while nearing her. Elsa had to mentally prepare herself for what she knew came next.

_Don't chicken out now… This is all you've wanted for several years. Just roll with the flow and do what feels natural._

And then it finally happened. Their lips met for a tender moment. The first contact between them was faint, barely noticeable, but Elsa felt every single second of it. She clung to the sensation like it would be the last thing she'd ever be lucky enough to have happen to her. Then another gentle kiss landed on her lips, and at the same time, one of Anna's hands moved its way up to grab a hold of the blonde's neck. Elsa shivered at her lover's touch, but then the kiss stopped and Anna started to move away.

"One more," was all Elsa could say as she grabbed hold of Anna's right shoulder, her voice raspy and her throat dry. Anna complied and planted another sweet kiss on Elsa's lips, this time more passionate, rougher somehow, but still as gentle as before. Once again, Anna started pull away. "One more," Elsa repeated herself. She could do this all night, no, scratch that, all week. Once again, Anna kissed her and Elsa wrapped an arm around her waist, but this time the kiss was fleeting, barely even there, quicker than their first kiss.

"Elsa, we need to get back out there, they're gonna wonder what's taking us so long," Anna explained. The logical part of Elsa agreed with her, but something else inside Elsa wanted them to keep going, to never leave this time and place. This was perfect.

_Fuck, she's correct. But this is amazing. I've never felt anything like this. I want you now, Anna. No, I _need _you! Just stay here and kiss me for a few more minutes, please!_

"Yeah, you're right. Let me just dry my face off, and we'll go back out there," the blonde girl agreed, denying her instincts. Never had the heating sensation between her legs spread so quickly, and never had she wanted to satisfy that need so viciously. But alas, now was not the time to do it.

The pair went back out into the restaurant, Elsa smiling like an insane person. "What took you so long?" Olaf asked with a slight smile.

"Oh, just girl stuff," Anna answered quickly before Elsa got a chance to fuck everything up and winked at the girl she'd just kissed.

The rest of the evening was very pleasant. Everyone laughed and had fun. The two girls snuck out into the bathroom for a couple more kisses during the night, but they didn't take it any further, even though Elsa wanted nothing more by the third time they went to the bathroom together.

When her dad decided that it was time to go, they said goodbye, and Elsa went home with the happiest feelings she could ever remember having coursing through her veins. It was like her blood was fucking made of rainbows and sunshine or some shit. During the drive home, after they'd dropped Olaf off, she fished her phone out of the purse and texted him '_She kissed me! She fucking did!' _barely a second had passed before her phone buzzed, which was weird. Not even Olaf was that quick.

'_thank you for a lovely night, Elsa. i look forward to seeing you tomorrow :*' _the text was from Anna. Elsa smiled again, biting the tip of her thumb nail, just about to reply when her phone buzzed again. This second message was probably from Olaf, so it could wait. '_Likewise. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least! I'll see you tomorrow, love,' _she texted back.

She then went to check Olaf's text. '_Congratulations! :D I'm happy for you, but you have to be a bit careful. You are gonna spend the next five months with her, no matter of if things go well or not.'_

Elsa smiled a bit at Olaf's concern. He was so sweet, probably the best friend one could ever have. '_Don't worry, I will. Sleep tight!'_ she texted him back and then dropped her phone back into the purse.

* * *

The next day was the big day, the day they'd leave and start the tour. This adventure was already proving to be the biggest in Elsa's life yet. The familiar butterflies were fluttering around in her stomach again with the anticipation of meeting Anna again for the first time after their first kiss. Actually for the first time since Elsa's first kiss at all.

There was nothing more to do than put her stuff in the car and leave for the theatre where they'd all be boarding the tour bus that would serve as their transport for the next five months. Their homes would be crummy hotel rooms most of the time, and even some nights just the floor of the bus as they had to drive far during the nights just to get to the next city so they'd be able to play on the same night they arrived.

Olaf had told them he'd meet them there since he lived closer to the theatre anyway. When they arrived at their destination, Olaf and her dad helped Elsa haul her luggage over the bus, but they hadn't taken more than a few steps before the familiar sound of Oaken's voice echoed over the parking lot. "Hoo-hoo! Let me carry that for you!" the big man shouted and took the bags from Olaf, who looked relieved that someone took that particular burden from him. Elsa didn't notice Anna anywhere, but simply concluded that the beautiful ginger had to be inside the bus.

After having put all of her stuff in the luggage compartments of the tour bus, it was time to say good bye. She started with Olaf, hugging him tightly, this time of her own accord. "I'm gonna miss you Olaf. Promise to call me once a week if I don't call you? And visit my dad so he doesn't get lonely?"

"I will," the little guy said, hugging her even tighter for a couple of seconds before letting her go.

Then it was her dad's turn. "I'm sorry this is going to be taking some of the time out of my time at college, but I have to do this. Just take care of Olaf. I'll call you as often as I can, and Oaken and Marshmallow will protect me," she said while looking deeply into his eyes and hugged him as he started to tear up a bit.

"Just remember to take care of yourself, too, sweetheart. And remember, I love you all the way up to the stars and all the way back again," he said and held her tightly. As they let go of each other she returned the phrase "Likewise Dad," before she turned around.

Elsa had barely taken another step before she spotted Anna out of the corner of her eye. With nothing but joy and expectations thereof, she started to walk towards the redhead, the biggest smile ever in Elsa's life on her face. But then her world shattered. It was as if time slowed down as Hans came around the corner of the bus, picked up Anna and spun around with her in his arms, the ginger beauty giggling like a schoolgirl, and then he kissed her, she kissed him back.

* * *

**A/N: **I know this is outside of the release schedule I promised you guys, but the story took a turn I hadn't expected it to take, and not even I know what's going to happen next yet, so I wanted to give you guys something, as well as a heads up about why there might be a bit more time before I post another chapter than what you're accustomed to.


	6. Like a Teacup

Elsa's entire being quite literally stopped working for a couple of seconds as she witnessed the display in front of her. She just stood there and stared, unable to understand what was going on. Everything had been so perfect last night. Everything she'd dreamed of for years had come true, she had been so happy. Now it was all shattered. Every single ounce of happiness had been sucked out of her with a force and speed that could easily be likened to that of vacuum in space. She felt empty, but not entirely. Somewhere deep inside her, a ball of fear, anger, hate and sadness started churning, slowly growing bigger.

_This cannot be happening. I refuse to believe it. Last night she made me the happiest girl on Earth, and now she kisses Hans? This must be a nightmare._

She bit hard down on her tongue, trying to wake herself from the horrid dream, but she only managed to hurt herself. As she tasted the coppery taste of blood in her mouth, Olaf came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, leaning in and whispering "Just act normal for ten more minutes. We'll handle this on the phone."

Elsa nodded and turned to him, giving him a weak smile to show him that she could get through this. Her tongue hurt from the hard bite, and she was happy to have some sort of distraction from the surreality of the situation she was currently stuck in. She might not be able to speak too much for the coming couple of hours if she wanted the wound to heal, but Elsa did not expect to do too much of that anyway.

Marshmallow yelled something about the bus leaving soon and Elsa jogged toward the big man, turning around when she was over there to wave at her dad with a fake smile before getting into the bus.

* * *

Elsa felt lucky that she was one of the last people to get on the bus. It allowed her to pick a seat that was nowhere near Anna. She and Hans had gotten into the back of the bus, and Elsa picked a seat near the front, sitting close to the window, placing her backpack on the other seat. She knew there were few spare seats on the bus, and Oaken and Marshmallow probably needed two seats each, but the last thing Elsa wanted right now was to have anyone sit beside her. She fished her iPod out of her pack and plugged it in, scrolling through the songs for a minute before settling on _Tesselate_ by Ellie Goulding. It was a very relaxing track, and Elsa needed that right now. Shutting off the world by turning the music all the way up, she let her neck hit the headrest of her seat hard, staring at the bus' ceiling for a moment before closing her eyes as she felt the vehicle kick into motion. This world was horrible right now, and she wanted nothing more than the sweet escape of sleep.

Elsa's nap was not what she had hoped for. Normally her sleep was dreamless, empty, but this time it was different. Her mind replayed the scene in front of the bus, letting her feel the stab of betrayal over and over, and warping the events. One time was completely normal, the next she could see Anna staring at her with a knowing smile as she kissed Hans, or she could hear how the ginger beauty laughed at Elsa's despair. Then it all turned okay again as she remembered her adventures in the bathroom the night before, and she was filled with glee. But everything turned to despair again as she was once again brought back to the memory of Anna kissing Hans, barely twelve hours after kissing her.

She was ripped from the nightmarish dream as her phone vibrated softly in her pocket. Elsa had never been a heavy sleeper, quite to the contrary. Even the slightest of disturbances were enough to wake her up, if she had not initiated those disturbances herself, hence why the music never woke her up. It took a few seconds before she noticed the buzzing, Lana Del Rey's _Summertime Sadness _taking most of her attention for those first seconds. Rubbing her left eye with one hand, the other slipped into her pocket to get her phone out. Yawning a bit, she flipped the old Motorola open, glancing at the message from Olaf '_So that was… Unexpected, huh?' _his message said. Elsa could clearly imagine his concerned face. She replied with an affirmative message, something that would be closer to a grunt than actual words. A couple of minutes later, Olaf asked another text-based question. '_So what was going on anyway?'_

_- 'I don't know what was going on, but I know Anna kissed Hans. I've never felt so betrayed.' _Elsa replied, wiping a tear from her eye before looking out of the window to avoid other people seeing her cry.

_- 'Who is this Hans?' _Olaf asked, apparently full of questions today. But then again, that was the way he always reacted when he didn't have all the details on a situation.

_- 'He's the male lead on the play. Never talked to him, but I've always had a bad feeling about the guy. I've told you a bit about him before, I think," _Elsa replied back, feeling a bit of rage bubbling inside her as she thought about Hans.

_- 'Oh, yeah. That guy,' _her old friend wrote. She could almost hear the venom dripping from his voice as she read it. '_I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for what she did, Elsa. Only a sociopath would kiss you the way she did and then ruin you the next day in such away.'_

_- 'Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks Olaf. I'll try to sleep for the rest of the busride. You know how I hate them. Remember to visit my dad once in a while, okay? I don't want him to be all alone,' _she texted Olaf before flipping her phone closed again. To be honest she wasn't only worried about her father being alone, but Olaf, too. Olaf had just never taken it well when he thought you were suggesting he couldn't handle himself, so Elsa had learned to avoid doing that. She then went back to sleep. The bus ride was going to take a few more hours, so she wanted to have pass as quickly as possible. This time her dreams luckily weren't plagued by Anna's face, much less her betrayal. This time it was as it always was, empty and devoid of anything. Usually it kind of bothered Elsa that she didn't have dreams, or at least some that she remembered, but today, she welcomed the emptiness, made it her happy place.

* * *

The next time Elsa awoke, it was because the giant, white-haired man Marshmallow was stood beside her, shoving her shoulder gently. "We're there," he said with a faint smile and then shuffled off. Marshmallow was a simple man, or maybe not simple, but at least a man of very few words. Elsa liked that a lot in him. He didn't judge, or at the very least not vocally, and he always got straight to the point, and when you needed advice, they were really simple, yet there was so much meaning in them that Elsa could often spend a long time pondering about every meaning in his words.

The first town on the tour was a small one called Del Mar in the Southern California. The tour had been planned to first visit a few local theatres in small towns along the coast in the south and then move to the bigger stages up north. Elsa looked around, trying to get her bearings about her whereabouts. They were parked in front of the local theatre and it was just about midday. "Alright, listen up!" Kaj yelled as he walked down the aisle in the middle of the bus. "Our first show in this town is tonight. That means we have a tight schedule. Actors, you get to leave now and have lunch and dinner. Backstage crew, we need to get the stage set, you have three hours, and then you get to have dinner. Actors, when the stage is set up, you guys need to do one last rehearsal before tonight. We'll go to the hotel after tonight's show, and then stay here for two days, with one performance each night. Got it?" the crew manager continued yelling before he smiled and then turned around as he walked out of the bus. "Let's get to it then!"

The rest of the afternoon, Elsa was busy, and busy meant she didn't have time to think about the events this morning, and she was really happy to get her mind taken off of things for a few hours. Then she, Oaken and Marshmallow went to a cute little Italian place that was situated almost secretly in an alley barely a mile away from the theater, and after they'd eaten, they all went back back to the theatre. The local opening night went smoothly, but Anna seemed a little off her game, and even though Elsa was furious with her, she couldn't help but stare at the redhead.

After a succeeded performance, they all got into the bus, exhausted as hell from such a busy afternoon. On the way over, Kaj informed them that the budget required them to stay in rooms of two, and he had tried his very best to put people in rooms with others he knew they were comfortable with. If nothing went wrong, these would be their roommates for the rest of the tour. The list of roommates would be hung on the front of the bus as soon as they arrived.

Elsa made sure she was one of the last persons to get off the bus this time, enjoying looking out at the traffic going by on the road and smelling the fresh night air streaming into the bus from the door only a few seats in front of her. She could easily hear the audible slap between Oaken and Marshmallow's hands as they read the roster and found out they'd be sharing a room all summer. She seemed to remember them talking about moving in together to save rent, and thought that this would be a good way for them to try it out before actually acting on the thought.

When everyone else had left the bus, Elsa got out, grabbed her stuff from the pile beside the bus and went to look at the roster. For a couple of seconds, she had a hard time trying to find her own name on the list, but soon realized she was probably roommate number two, which meant her name would have been written on the right side of the note. She looked the list over once more and found herself, her name right next to Anna's.


	7. Shards Remain

_This cannot be happening. I can't spend that much time with that bitch, I- Did I just call her that? Did I just call Anna, the girl I adore the most in the entire world, a bitch? Relax Elsa. Like Olaf said, there's probably a perfectly reasonable explanation._

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax before turning around. She and Anna were staying in room twentytwo, so that's where she was going to go. She couldn't sleep in the halls, right?

When Elsa turned around, the first thing that met her eyes was Anna, standing off to the side of the hotel doorway. Her legs didn't stop, but her brain felt like it shut off for a second as the ginger girl waved a shy wave at her. The moon and starlight made her pale skin and red hair sparkle in a way Elsa had not anticipated. It dumbfounded her completely for a short time, but a slight tingle in the back of her mind kept telling her that Anna was bad to be around. Her emotions told her the tingle was wrong, but all logic told her that that it was completely and utterly right. It was all very confusing. Elsa probably should have stopped and talked to Anna when she passed her on the way in, but she didn't. She didn't even look at the girl, just bumped her shoulder as she strode by. "Elsa, wait," Anna said weakly, taking a step or two in Elsa's direction as she tried to talk to her. The blonde just kept walking, a couple of tears forming in her eyes as she struggled to keep up the demeanor.

* * *

Elsa went straight for room twentytwo, noticing two keys taped to the front of the door. She took them down from there and unlocked the door before stepping inside. She closed the door behind her and went straight for the bed in the far end of the room, dumping her bags at the foot end. She sat down and faced the window, dropping her head into her hands and tried to hold back the tears. But the stress was too much. The whole situation seemed unreal. How could she have been at the top of the world one evening, only to be this sad less than twentyfour hours later. It was too much to handle, and Elsa began crying, muffling the sounds with her hands. A knock on the door got her attention, and she looked up for a second. "Elsa? Please, I know you're in there. I can explain all this, just let me in."

It took a minute for Elsa to even conjure up a response in her head, but in the end, she stood up, walked to the window and stared out of it as she tried to ground herself and take a little step back from the situation. "It's open," she said weakly and then heard the door creak open before closing softly. "Your key is on the bed."

Light footsteps padded around in the room for a bit, mostly around the area Elsa guessed was the second bed before they started moving in Elsa's direction. She turned around and stared hard at Anna. "Not a step closer," she heard herself say, her voice colder and harder than intended. Elsa wanted to take some of that hardness back, but it was too late now, and the last thing she wanted right now was to appear weak, so she tried her best to make her gaze appear as cold and hard as her voice, not entirely sure if she succeeded.

"Elsa, I really can explain, I don't want things to be like this," Anna started off and then took another step closer to Elsa before sitting down on her bed. "It really is not my fault," she continued and then stared out of the window Elsa had just been.

Elsa almost exploded with anger. This was one of the very first times in her life she felt so furious. "NOT YOUR FAULT?" she shouted, taking a surprisingly quick step towards the redhead with a raised hand. "YOU kiss me, say good night and make me the happiest girl on Earth, then BREAK MY FUCKING HEART by kissing that dick less than twelve hours later, and then you have the guts to tell me it's not YOUR fault? HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?" the blonde continued halfway shouting, not wanting to attract any attention from the surrounding rooms, but still just barely able to contain her anger. "Fuck you! Lying bitch."

Anna was visibly scared by this point. She cowered and tried to make herself smaller, almost falling off the bed in the attempt, and she just let Elsa rage out, she must have needed it. When Elsa had been done for a few seconds, Anna stood up and took another step toward the younger blonde, putting a hand on her shoulder, which was immediately slapped away. "Yes," she started in a caring, explanatory voice. It was clear the redhead had training in controlling her emotions for the sake of the audience. "It's not my fault. Hans is forcing me to act like his girlfriend," she continued and turned away, biting her lower lip at the confession as her voice cracked at the final sentence. Even she could not mask her emotions all of the time..

Elsa's fury subsided just as quickly as it had flared up. "He's forcing you?" she asked, taking a step toward her crush. "But how? Does he, like, have something on you?" Elsa continued asking, placing a hand on Anna's shoulder, which was not slapped away this time.

- "Yes, he does, and it's something that could cost me my career if Mr. Weselton ever found out," Anna continued, her voice shaking now. "I can't tell you what it is, you'll judge me and leave me."

- "I didn't know there was anything to leave," Elsa said and turned the ginger actress around, staring straight into those big, beautiful eyes. They weren't so beautiful now, but that was just because she was crying. "And don't worry, I won't judge you."

Anna grabbed her left elbow with the other hand and stared down at the carpet as she bit her lip. A few seconds passed as she debated whether to tell Elsa or not. "Hey, it's alright, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," the other girl said and pulled Anna in for a hug. They just stood there for a few minutes before dropping to the bed, where they hugged for a short while more before Elsa broke it off, staring into Anna's eyes again. "Just tell me when you're ready," she said and kissed Anna on the cheek.

_This is too weird, Elsa. First you're fuming with anger at her, and now you just forgive her because it actually isn't her fault? What the fuck is wrong with you? This girl destroyed every part of your being with one simple action._

Conflicting emotions swirled inside Elsa, battling for supremacy. The logical part of her wanted to stay mad at Anna and go to bed, then ask Kaj to get her a new roommate in the morning, but every other part of her forgave Anna, except for a very tiny part of Elsa's being that felt disgusted with herself for doing this. One thing was for certain, though. Every single fiber of Elsa hated Hans for what he had done. As Anna stared at Elsa and gave a weak smile, the doubts, fears and joy welled up again, pushing every thought of Hans away, but kept the memory of betrayal fresh. As the girl leaned in towards Elsa in what was clearly a gesture of wanting to kiss her, Elsa considered turning away for a second, but she wanted so badly to taste Anna's lips once again, and she allowed it.

The kiss was as soft as the first one from last night, Anna's hand placing itself on Elsa's cheek. But there was something else about it. This kiss was somehow more caring, not quite as passionate. As their tears mixed, Elsa let a hand slide to the redhead's hip where she let it rest, enjoying the curve of her partner's body. Anna broke off for a second and looked into Elsa's eyes, a mix of happiness and apologies meeting Elsa's glance. she smiled back just in time as Anna closed her eyes and leaned in for another kiss, this time a bit rougher, Anna slipping her tongue into Elsa's mouth, which kind of took the blonde by surprise, but it also drove her wild with want, the heat between her legs spreading faster than it ever had done before. Elsa returned the favor by placing her other hand on top Anna's petite butt and slipped her own tongue into the redhead's mouth, every single one of her doubting and questioning emotions amplified by the hormones crashing through her veins.

_What is happening?_

The way Anna's tongue played around with hers, and the hand on her lower back, slowly pulling her white tanktop upwards made the tingling sensation between her legs grow worse for every second. And when she felt Anna's small hand grab her braid, twisting it around her fingers, she simply couldn't hold back any longer. The feelings of betrayal and heartbreak were still pondering in the back of her head, but her hormones demanded them gone for the moment, letting all of her attention turn towards Anna's gentle touch, growing more and more rough, due to the pure desire of Elsa.

Elsa broke their kiss for a second, only to pull off Anna's top. Anna saw the chance of pulling of Elsa's tanktop at the same time, and they both took a moment to admire the other's beauty. Elsa with the skin, pale as snow, almost shining in the shitty lightning from the hotel room light, and Anna with her tanned skin filled with…

_Oh God, even her chest is freckled! Could this girl be any more perfect?_

Not long passed before Anna seemed to have been driven crazy by the hormones rushing through her system, and she grabbed one of Elsa's breasts, kneading it with her fingers as she pushed the blonde down onto her back.

The last shred of Anna's betrayal fled from Elsa's mind as she moaned and prepared herself to spend a night in Anna's arms.

* * *

The next morning, Elsa woke up later than she'd planned to. They weren't moving on to a new city before tomorrow night, so that meant the backstage crew had little to do before the night's show, but all the actors had. Elsa decided she wanted to look around in the city. After all, she'd never been to Del Mar before, and it was quite the popular tourist destination from what she'd heard. She spent the day with Marshmallow and Olaf, and they ate at the small Italian place they'd eaten at yesterday, which Elsa had decided she wanted to take Anna to before they left town.

As they got to the theatre, ready for the night, Hans had Anna cornered in the alley beside theatre, kissing her. The ginger shot Elsa a guilty glance, and her entire body started seething with rage. The night's show went well, except for the fact that Hans had trouble finding the right costumes when he needed them, and when he did, he never had more than a minute to change. Elsa apologized repeatedly, never meaning it, and she thought it was such a weird coincidence that it always happened to the male lead, and no one else. The anger towards Hans never really subsided that night, and it only grew stronger whenever he scolded Elsa for not having his costume ready. She'd have to talk to Anna about this problem tonight.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for taking so long to post these two chapters guys! As you know I wasn't entirely expecting the story to take that turn in chapter 5, and that had a lot to do with how long I took to write these. I wasn't expecting that twist to happen before chapter 9, but it felt right to do it in 5.

Also, the whole sex scene/foreplay thing took a long time for me, too. /u/ElsaTheQueen was very helpul once again and wrote most of it, I just corrected it and finished it. Thanks to you once again!

And another big thing: Mou Ichido has reached more than 1,000 views! I am flabbergasted (such a good word, by the way) that so many people wanna read this. Thank you guys so much!


	8. Alone time

After the second Del Mar performance, the actors had been asked to stay behind for something, so Elsa had gone back to the hotel ahead of Anna. She was sitting around in the reception area, watching Oaken and Marshmallow discuss something unimportant, as they always did. This time she was more interested in it, though. She had no idea why, but for some reason, there wasn't anything else distracting her mind. This time they were discussing the advantages of getting a PlayStation 4 over an XBOX One when they moved in together. "Why don't you just get one of each?" Elsa broke in when their conversation had went in circles enough times. The two large men stared at her dumbfounded for a few seconds before turning their heads to each other. Marshmallow mumbled something about her being right, and Oaken nodded before agreeing and mentioning that they'd certainly have enough money for them after the tour. They then fell silent for a few minutes, not even thanking Elsa. It was okay, though, she didn't know anything about the subject anyway, but it seemed logical to get both.

A few hours later, the actors came back to the hotel. Anna and Hans had their arms hooked around each other, and as they walked past Elsa, the redhead shot her an apologetic glance. Elsa just glared at Hans. The two went to the other side of the lounge and sat down in a position Elsa could only describe as sickening. "I'm gonna go to bed," she told the two men she had been hanging out with for the evening and got on her feet. They bid her goodnight and smiled as she left.

* * *

Once inside the room, Elsa locked the door and dropped down on her bed, plunging like a rock.

_Finally alone for the first time in two days._

Elsa felt exhausted. Both physically and mentally. The last two days had been hard on her because the backstage work felt a lot harder for some reason, and at the same time, this whole thing that was going on with Anna and Hans was sucking her dry, toying with her emotions in a way that she hadn't thought possible before. She closed her eyes and exhaled, letting a sensation of complete calm fall over her as she emptied her head of thoughts. Only a few minutes passed as she lay there, completely relaxed before she fell asleep.

* * *

Anna felt her heart sink as she heard the low click of the lock on the door to her and Elsa's hotel room. She was sitting on a couch in the back end of the lounge beside Hans, her legs slung over him and smiled at him, as she had been taught to as he droned on with another story about something he did once and was proud of. He always did that, and Anna had stopped listening a long time ago. She still nodded and smiled at times that seemed appropriate, like when he looked to her, or when he said something like "Don't you think?". The art of conversing with Hans was surprisingly simple, and she attributed that to how self-absorbed the guy was.

The entire evening, nothing other than Elsa had been in her head. It was a good feeling, but the distraction had gotten frustrating during their performance, and Elsa had apparently taken some of her anger out on Hans, because he never seemed to be able to find the right costume at the right point. What a coincidence. Anna had only started noticing Elsa about three months ago when the slightly younger girl had been on closing duty at the theater. She had seen the blonde girl around before, but not really paid attention to her as she was just another stage hand. That night Anna had asked if Elsa's hair color was natural or not, receiving only a goofy grin and a nod, which hadn't really felt right in the situation. When she had asked the blonde if she was alright, she just got kicked out, which was really weird, but it felt good that someone else was taking charge for once.

A couple more weeks had passed and Elsa had begun taking up a little more of her thoughts every day. You could call it a bit of an infatuation, she had told herself. Elsa was the kind of girl she always got attracted to. Silent, frail, small, gorgeous. But there was something more about this one, and she had been determined to find out what that was. But then -

She got distracted from her thoughts as Hans leaned in with a lude smile and a wink. Anna shivered. _Get away from me, you creep, _she thought but leaned in and gave the man a small kiss on the lips, just as he had been asking. He then returned to babbling about how awesome he thought himself to be. Just like now, Hans had gotten in the way of her plans back when she started liking Elsa.

This all started when Hans started working at the theater, cast in the role of the main lead in their current play specifically and brought in from another theater. _God, why did I have to be impulsive and go with him that night? _she asked herself and felt sadness creep up on her. Never having liked sadness, she started to get up as she wanted to get away from Hans.

- "Where ya going babe?" Hans asked and took hold of her wrist hard enough that Anna could take the hint. He didn't want her to leave just yet. He looked at her in a scary way, too.

- "I've got a bit of a headache, Hans. I'm going to bed, alright?" she answered, giving him a weak smile and squeezing his hand, playing her part perfectly. Hans wouldn't suspect a thing.

- "Alright, but give me a kiss first," he continued, not letting his grip loosen. He pulled her closer and forced her to sit in his lap. Anna managed to keep a disgusted grimace away from her face as she followed the man's lead. He put a hand behind her neck and placed her right hand on his own hip before placing his remaining hand on her butt. She was just about to resist and spit in his face, but she restrained herself and once again followed his lead as he pulled her face closer to his.

Anna did what she could to make the kiss feel as passionate to Hans as he obviously tried. She went for a slow approach, not wanting to give him too much of herself. However, it was obvious that Hans had other plans, as he forced his tongue inside her mouth, and she almost threw up right then and there. She felt something stir in Hans' lap, and as suddenly as he had thrust his tongue into her mouth, she bit down on his lower lip, causing to pull away quickly as a knee-jerk reaction. "Bitch, don't you bite me," he growled at her, and Anna could almost feel the anger in his eyes burn through her.

- "You know I don't like the tongue thing," she lied and felt a short burst of happiness inside her as she remembered her kiss with Elsa in the restaurant bathroom. She didn't let it show, though and started to slip off as she shot him an apologetic glance. He didn't stop her this time. "Sleep tight," she said as she waved and walked backwards towards her and Elsa's hotel room.

- "Yeah, night," Hans said, not even looking in her direction as he felt up his lip, clearly wanting to make sure nothing had happened to it.

_Serves you right if I bit a hole in you, fucker._

She turned around and looked at the door, walking towards it as she fiddled for the key card in her purse. It took a few seconds for her to fish it out, and she immediately stuck it in the door. It went 'beep' and the light above the door handle switched to green for a second before it allowed her to open the door, and she stepped inside.

The room was completely dark, and the only sounds that could be heard were those of people chatting in the halls, as well as someone snoring slightly inside. Anna didn't dare turn on the light, afraid to wake up the sleeping Elsa. But she needed some light to see, so she opened the bathroom door and turned on the light in there, casting a soft light into the main hotel room. In the soft light, she could easily spot Elsa's figure on the far bed, fully dressed and not fully on the bed. Elsa's upper body was on the bed, but her legs weren't on the it, almost as if she had been sitting on the edge and fell over backwards as she fell asleep. Anna went to sit down on the edge of her own bed, admiring the blonde's figure as she slept. She was gorgeous. Her blonde hair, always tied up in that thick braid was messy, her shirt had ridden up a bit, exposing some of that flawless, pale skin underneath. Her jeans clung to her calves, showing off the shape of her lower legs in a way that made Anna's head spin. It was not just Elsa's looks that got Anna going, though. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about Elsa as a person that made her gravitate toward the younger stage hand.

After admiring the sleeping blonde for a few minutes, Anna got up from her position on her own bed and moved toward Elsa, kneeling beside her and put a hand on her knee, pushing the leg back and forth while whispering "Elsa, wake up, you have to actually go to bed." She smiled as the blonde opened her eyes.

* * *

Elsa's sleep had been like almost every other sleep she had. Undisturbed and without any dreams she could remember. This one felt a bit short, though, and she was just about to think she was still sleeping, as she heard a beautiful voice speak her name. "Elsa? Elsa, wake up," the voice spoke softly. She opened her eyes, and her gaze was met by those wonderful turquoise eyes and the edges of her still blurry vision filled with tones of red as Anna's face swam into focus. She smiled, and Elsa smiled back. "Hi," the redhead said. "It's late, you need to get properly onto your bed." Elsa nodded and sat up, yawning as she stretched. They undressed, and Elsa got into her pyjamas, Anna sleeping in just her panties, and then they went to bed.

"Goodnight beautiful," Anna said and laid down, facing toward Elsa. The blonde did nothing but smile back and giggle a little as she closed her eyes and turned away. She'd always slept better if she fell asleep on her left side, so she unfortunately had to turn away from Anna.


	9. Gomenasai

The last day in Del Mar, Elsa woke early, and just like it seemed to be the norm, nothing was on Elsa's schedule before the evening where they'd be performing for the last time in this little city. She liked it this way, though. It allowed her to feel relaxed most of the time. This morning, she fished a book out of her backpack. It was one called _State of Fear _written by Michael Crichton. She had meant to finish this a long time ago, but other stuff kept getting in the way. Elsa had been a fan of Crichton works ever since she read the Jurassic Park novel after she'd watched the movie. It was a master piece. She opened to her bookmark and started reading, ready to lose herself in this fictional world.

Elsa had read a couple of chapters when she heard stirring and yawning from the other bed. She looked over to see the half-naked redhead open her eyes and stretch as she was all tangled in the duvets and covers. The stretching only made the tangling worse, and it almost looked like a multicolored monster was trying to constrict her. It reminded Elsa of something she'd seen on the Internet some time ago. Anna's hair was all messed up. It was reminiscent of a large, ginger fur ball that sat on top of a beautiful actress' head. Anna looked cute like this. Cute in a weird, raunchy way. "Good morning," Anna said, her voice cracking into a higher pitch as she stretched again, exposing her stomach and the underside of her breasts to Elsa.

The blonde's throat went dry as she croaked a "Morning" in response. She put her bookmark back in and closed the book, smiling at the girl in the other bed. "So what did you actor people stay behind for last night after the performance?" she asked and got out of bed, heading in the direction of the little kitchen that was in the room, turning on the coffee maker.

- "Oh, they just wanted us to rehearse one more time so we'd have some free time today," Anna replied and covered herself with the duvet. "I might just sleep all day!" she exclaimed, clearly excited that she even had the opportunity to do so.

Elsa poured some coffee and sat down on the edge of Anna's bed, sipping from her mug. The bitter taste hit her tongue and she grimaced. The first couple of sips were always bad, but when those were over, coffee was among the best beverages Elsa had ever tasted. "I've got an idea," she said. "Why don't we go for a dinner in the town? Just the two of us. I know this cute little Italian place," Elsa continued and smiled at Anna, who looked to be considering something for a while.

- "We'll have to sneak out then," she said, biting her lower lip as she sat up, the covers falling from her and exposing her bare chest again. "Hans said he wanted to do something with me today since we had the time." She looked concerned now, and Elsa grew a little concerned herself.

- "Well, let's just do that then, right?" she said, halfway asking, because she wasn't sure if this was something Anna wanted to do. But Elsa really wanted to get Anna out to dinner. It would be nice with some time just for the two of them, and she wanted to know more about Anna, too.

The redhead smiled at Elsa. It was a weak smile, but there was definite joy in in it, and her eyes betrayed exhaustion. Tours must have been a lot harder on the actors than on the backstage crew. "Yeah, let's do that," she finally said and started to get out of bed. "But I'll need a shower first. I smell like a barn."

- "Well, I'd like a bath before we go, too," Elsa remarked and took another sip of her coffee.

The redhead then shot Elsa a devious smile. "Why don't you join me then?" she asked, and Elsa was sure the girl was ready to burst with laughter and playful malice. And it was a tempting offer, no doubt about that, but Elsa wasn't really in the mood.

- "Not right now, Anna. I don't feel like it," she said honestly. Elsa lied a lot to people, but this didn't seem like one of the times she needed to do so. The half-naked ginger beauty pouted and asked if she was sure, to which Elsa just nodded. Anna then went into the bathroom, and barely a minute passed before Elsa could hear the water hitting the bottom of the shower. She then went back to her own bed and opened the book, once again disappearing into Crichton imagination.

* * *

Elsa was unsure of how long passed. The droning sound of water hitting the shower floor felt almost entrancing to her as she flipped page after page, and she almost didn't notice Anna calling her when she had finished her shower. "It's ready for you," the redhead said. Elsa looked up to see her standing there, drying her hair. She had dressed in a black tank top with a floral pattern stitched in gold along the right hand side, a green skirt that barely surpassed her knees and a pair of elegant black heels.

- "You are look amazing in that, Anna!" Elsa exclaimed and got up, walking to the girl to get a closer look. The girl chuckled a bit at the remark and turned to let Elsa get a full look. The skirt was apparently designed to show off Anna's figure, because it stuck closely to her butt, showing its form perfectly. Elsa sighed a bit and smiled at the actress as she turned back around. "It really suits you."

- "Thanks," Anna said and reciprocated Elsa's smile. "As I said, the bath is ready for you," she continued and point to the bathroom for a second before returning to drying her hair. Elsa nodded and started in the direction the other girl was pointing. "Oh, and did you bring that sky blue dress?" she asked just before Elsa closed the door. The blonde nodded and made an affirmative sound. "Wear that then," Anna said and winked as she turned around, starting to do her hair up.

Elsa took a long, relaxing bath, making sure her legs and armpits were shaved. Anna had apparently liked the blue dress so much that she felt comfortable requesting Elsa wore it to their first actual date.

_Oh god, this is our first date, and we've already had sex. This is worse than fucking someone on the first date, isn't it? No, come on, Elsa, this is a special situation. How many people get together with someone under these circumstances?_

She brushed the thought aside and continued her bath, soaping in every part of her body as she thought about possible conversation topics.

_We could discuss the other cities we're going to, right? Yeah, that seems appropriate. I also kinda wanna know what her family's like, actually. Oh, and I have to bring up the whole Hans situation. It has to be dealt with._

She washed the soap out of her hair and off her body before turning the water off and grabbing a towel from the towel rack outside the shower cabin. Drying herself off, she started walking toward the door and unlocked it, peeking outside. "Are the blinds closed?" she asked Anna, who made an affirmative sound. The redhead was almost done doing her hair. It wasn't the usual twin braids, but instead something elegant. A braid was laid across the top of her head, the other tied up in a knot behind, and a lock of curled hair draped itself across her right cheek. As Elsa slipped out of the bathroom, she noticed the girl putting in a couple of ear rings. They were barely more than studs, and Elsa doubted the green gem stones were actually emeralds, but they were pretty and they fit the outfit perfectly.

With the towel tied around her, Elsa made her way toward the bed and opened her trolley, revealing her clothes. She dug through them for a couple of seconds, finding a pair of blue panties and a matching bra. The bad thing about the sky blue dress was that it revealed the color of her undergarments too much, so she had to wear this set whenever she wanted to wear the dress. She slipped the panties on, still wearing the towel and then stood up, putting the towel down before putting on the bra. She then bent over and picked up the dress, slipping it on. "Would you mind zipping me up?" she asked Anna and walked toward her. Without saying anything, the other girl zipped the dress and placed a small kiss on Elsa's cheek, which made the blonde blush.

The girls were now standing side by side, using the only mirror in the hotel room. Anna was putting on a light makeup, just a bit of eyeliner, mascara and a light pink lip gloss. Elsa was setting her braid and laying it across her right shoulder. She opted for a slightly heavier makeup than Anna's, black eyeliner and mascara, and the same pink lip gloss as the other girl's, but she also put on a bit of magenta eye shadow. "All done," Elsa said and walked towards her trolley again. There were no pockets in this dress, so she unfortunately had to use a purse for all of her belongings.

- "Ready?" Anna asked, standing by the door. She'd put on a necklace while Elsa was laying her makeup. It was a beautiful small silver chain with a heart hanging from one of the links. Elsa nodded and moved towards the door.

- "Let me look outside first. We have to be sneaky, remember?" she asked, and the redhead nodded. Cracking the door open as silently as possible, Elsa leaned over and peeked outside. She almost let out a loud yelp as she felt a hand place itself on her butt, but she quickly realized it was Anna and shot the girl a playful glance before whispering "Stop it, this is not the time." She still smiled, though.

Outside, the halls were empty, but Elsa looked around for a few more seconds, just to make sure. She stood back up, looked inside the room again and nodded at Anna before stealthily walking into the hallway. Despite Anna's heels clicking loudly against the floors, the two girls made it safely out of the hotel.

* * *

Less than ten minutes later, they arrived by cab at the little corner Italian place. It seemed kinda empty today, but then again, it was a Tuesday at noon, so most people were probably at work. It had been Anna's idea to take a cab, since she didn't want to walk very far in heels, and Elsa had agreed since the other girl had offered to pay for the ride. They stepped inside and were immediately shown to a table close to the side exit. The table was in the back end of the small restaurant, just as Elsa had requested it. The last thing they needed now was Hans walking by on the street and spotting them by chance. Anna ordered a salmon sandwich with fries on the side. Not very Italian, but as long as the girl ate, Elsa didn't care much. She herself ordered some spaghetti alla carbonara.

"That's cute," Elsa giggled at a story Anna had told about her little cousin right after the waiter left from giving them their food. Anna had kissed the little girl on the cheek, and like most kids, Rapunzel, as she was called, had rubbed her cheek afterwards. Anna had then asked if the little girl was rubbing her kiss off, to which Rapunzel had answered 'No, I'm just rubbing it in'.

Elsa chuckled a bit again at the thought of the little girl's endearing act. "Now that we're on the topic of family, you've met mine. Olaf isn't really my brother, but it feels that way, and then there's my father. We're a small family, but it's nice. How about yours?" she asked and smiled, sticking her fork into the dish before her.

Anna smiled and took a bite of her sandwich before answering. Her mouth was still halfway full of food when she started talking. "Well, it's mostly just been me and my mom, actually," Anna started explaining and then swallowed. Elsa couldn't help but look as the food passed down inside her throat, making it bulge slightly. Anna hadn't chewed that bite properly. "I mean, she's had some boyfriends over the years, and even one girlfriend at one point, but none of them lasted more than a few years. I've never met my dad, so we've just kept to ourselves and visited relatives, you know?"

Elsa kinda felt like Anna was rambling. The fact that the other girl only had one parent, too was a bit of a coincidence, and she felt she suddenly had the world in common with her date. Elsa didn't really have time to be lost in thought for long, because Anna apparently had no intention of stopping her rambling. "... And you know how grandparents are sometimes, going on and on about how the world was better back when they were young, but then I told her about how the Internet has changed the way we share information, and she argued that too much information is a bad thing and…"

_Does she never shut up?_

- "Anna, your food is getting cold," Elsa broke her off with a giggle and a smile. She had nothing against people who talked a lot, but there were things they kinda needed to discuss.

- "Oh, yeah," Anna said, almost surprised by the blonde's statement. She grabbed a couple of fries, chewed six or seven times, just enough to grind them down to something she could swallow and was just about to open her mouth to talk again when Elsa said something.

- "Is this a date, Anna?" the fragile-looking blonde asked, her face set in a worryingly serious expression. "Like, a date-date, you know?" she expanded her question. Anna sat there, looking at Elsa for a few seconds before answering. Those few seconds felt like an eternity to Elsa, though, and she was afraid of both answers to her question. One meant this wasn't more than a fling to Anna. The other meant they'd have to talk about a very serious subject, and that wasn't something Elsa liked doing, not even with Olaf. Not unless the TV was on, of course. She took another forkful of her spaghetti and awaited an answer.

- "I'd say so. Wouldn't you?" Anna replied in the form of another question. She hadn't sounded entirely sure about her own answer, which worried Elsa. The redhead took another bite of her sandwich.

- "I would, yeah. But does that mean we're dating?" Elsa continued and enjoyed the sight of Anna eating her sandwich. It was good that she ate. The redhead shouldn't be getting any thinner. It would look sickly. "Like, as a couple, I mean," Elsa explained further.

- "Yeah, I think it does," Anna replied after another couple of seconds of thought and chewing. "At least I'd like it to mean that," she extended her answer with a cute smile. It was weak, and yet it contained strength enough to assure Elsa that everything would be alright.

Elsa smiled back, trying to put the same strength into the smile as Anna had, but she didn't quite have that much strength left. She knew what came next. "I'd like that very much, too," she said finally and took another bite of her meal.

* * *

They continued eating and small talking for a while, the subject landing on the topic of the cities they were gonna visit. Apparently a lot of Anna's childhood had been spent in Santa Monica, and Elsa had always wanted to spend a day on the beach and then the evening on the pier there. Anna promised they'd do that some day.

When they were almost done with their dinner, Elsa had finally gathered up enough courage to bring up the subject of Hans. She waited for Anna to take a bite of her sandwich, as it was a natural pause in the steady stream of words that flowed from her mouth, almost like water. "We need to talk Anna," she said, almost worrying herself with the seriousness of her tone and the sentence.

Anna looked concerned for a minute and asked "About?" before she took another couple of fries in her mouth. Her plate was almost clean now.

- "The whole situation with Hans," Elsa said, certain that Anna could pick up on the sadness in her voice. "I mean, it's great that we can say we're dating, but what does your relationship with him mean to us?"

Anna bit her lip and looked down at her empty plate, leaning back against her chair. "It's nothing, Elsa, I've already told you this," she said, clearly irritated at the question.

- "Yeah, but do you have to go around and kiss him and stuff? Are we exclusive or not?"

- "We're as exclusive as it gets, Elsa, but I have told you, my career is in danger," Anna repeated her statement from their heated night. She now sounded more frustrated than irritated.

- "Can't we do something about that, though?" Elsa asked and put her hand on Anna's right hand. The other girl pulled her hand to herself and crossed her arms in response. "Tell me, I can he-"

- "No, it's my problem!" Anna cut her off, staring into Elsa's eyes. The redheads eyes were full of anger and fear. It scared Elsa.

- "If you just told me, I could help you," Elsa said and stared straight into Anna's eyes, trying to find some hint of a cry for help.

- "Stay out of this, Elsa. It's not your problem," Anna repeated herself and rose from the table, starting to storm away. Elsa quickly slapped a couple of bills down on the table, hoping there'd be enough money to cover the bill and hurried after Anna.

- "If we're going to be a couple, it's my problem, too!" she yelled after the redhead when she'd almost caught up. "Anna, wait!" The redhead stopped and turned around, tears streaming from her eyes. Good thing they'd used waterproof makeup.

When Elsa was less than two feet from Anna, the redhead lunged out and slapped Elsa on the cheek before storming into the alley beside the restaurant they had just been eating at. Elsa just stood there for a couple of seconds. She had never been slapped before. It didn't hurt as much as she'd imagined, but the suddenness of Anna's outburst had left the blonde dumbfounded. When the shock had died down a bit, she followed the other girl into the alley.

Anna had kicked over a trashcan and was now kicking the shit out of a trash bag. It burst, spilling some old food out onto her foot. She reacted by screaming unintelligibly at the black plastic bag before kicking over another trashcan.

Elsa was shocked at the display of rage displayed before her. She'd heard joked rumors about redheads being naturally more angry than other people, but she didn't think Anna's hair color was the cause of what was going on here. She approached the raging girl slowly, arms held up in front of her, both defensively, and as if she wanted to calm a scared cat. "Calm down there feisty pants," she said, hoping a small joke would diffuse the situation.

Anna turned around as quickly as she'd slapped Elsa, pulled her shoe off and tossed it at the blonde, missing by a mile. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" she yelled, her voice cracking from rage and tears. She took a step closer to Elsa, limping in an almost comical way due to the height difference between her feet. She lowered her voice to a whisper that Elsa could barely hear, but the rage was still clear "Do you honestly think I want this? I know it's your fucking problem, too, but you can't help me here! No one can." She took a pause and breathed, more tears streaming down her cheeks. "NO ONE!" she yelled and took off her other shoe, tossing it aside.

Elsa was more shocked at the other girl's rage, anger and sadness than she'd been at the slap, but she had to keep calm if she wanted this situation to die down a bit. She took a deep breath and another step towards Anna. "If you just tell me what it is he has on you, I'm sure we can figure something out," she said, taking a third step towards the redhead. Her voice cracked in the middle of the sentence because she was a bit scared of the girl.

- "I- I can't tell you," Anna said, her voice returning to a more normal volume. She took a step towards the nearby dumpster and leaned on it for a second before repeating herself. "I can't tell you." Anna repeated herself a couple more times in a whisper as Elsa stepped closer. Then Anna collapsed to the ground, hunched over. Her shoulders shuddered a couple of times as she cried audibly.

- "You can tell me anything," Elsa said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible as she dropped to her knees beside Anna and put her arms around the crying girl. "I won't judge," she continued, still trying to sound reassuring. Elsa sat down and leaned her back against the dumpster, pulling Anna into her arms so the girl could relax in her own embrace. Elsa's dress was going to be ruined by this, but she didn't really care about that.

Anna sobbed a couple more times, wiping her eyes on the hem of her own top. She then cleared her throat before starting to speak. "It all began a couple of weeks after Hans had started at the theater," she began, her voice sounding mushy from crying. "I had been a little interested in you for a while, but now he came along, and he was tall and handsome and he wanted to take me places," she continued. She then proceeded to tell the story about how she'd begun having feelings for Hans. He'd introduced her to his brothers and friends, and they all liked Anna, and they seemed like fun people. But apparently they were the wrong people to hang out with. They introduced Anna to drugs and a lot of other bad stuff. For almost three weeks, Anna had enjoyed the drugs, but then Hans started threatening her with telling Weselton about it if she didn't become his girlfriend.

Elsa sighed. "And if Weselton finds out, you're fired, effective immediately," she said, not mentioning all the other trouble she'd be in with the DEA and other instances of law enforcement or Hans' family, which had sort of a mobster feel to it. "That is a pickle," she continued. The girl in her embrace nodded and started crying again. Elsa had to admit that she couldn't stop herself from judging Anna a little. She had expected something relatively small, like a sex tape he'd put on the Internet. Lots of people had sex tapes on the Internet, so that wouldn't really have bothered Elsa that much. _Plus, it'd be Anna on demand, _she thought to herself and fought to choke a chuckle as she tried to lighten her own mood a bit. But drugs? That was on another level entirely.

Elsa rose to her feet, pulling Anna up with her. "We need to get you home and in the bath," she said and padded the other girl on the back. "I'm also gonna call Kaj and tell him your understudy will need to take the stage tonight," the blonde continued and picked up one of Anna's discarded shoes. After gathering the other shoe, Elsa called a cab. "We'll find a solution for this puzzle. I promise."

* * *

**A/N: **Phew, that was a long one! But I personally think it was really good. Big things are coming, and once again, thank you all very much for being interested enough in this little work of mine that you read it! We've almost hit 2000 views, which is a huge achievement in my mind.

I tried something new in chapter 8. You might have noticed we saw things from Anna's perspective for a short while. How did that work for you? I really want feedback on that.

Also, a little easter egg for you guys: There are about 10 or 15 chapters left of Mou Ichido, but don't worry. I have a sequel planned in case people are interested in that. You might be able to find the title of it somewhere on this page.


	10. Aftermath

"No, she's not feeling too well," Elsa said into the mouthpiece of her cell. She looked over at the frail body that lay on the bed closest to her. Anna had been completely silent for the entire cab ride home to the hotel, not even sobbing or anything. "Yeah, I think Cindy'll have to take over the role for tonight." She walked around to her own bed and sat down, trying to plug the charger in as she spoke with Kaj. At Anna's request, had pushed the beds together, guessing that the redhead wanted to be close to Elsa for the foreseeable future. "Of course I'll do my best to get her ready to leave tonight. Alright, take care," she said and closed her phone, the audible click echoing in the silent room, but still as satisfying as it always. "I told Kaj you've come down with a bit of a fever and I told Marshmallow he should keep Hans out of this room for the day."

Anna just remained silent, no response at all, not even a nod, or her head twitching. Elsa slipped further onto the make-shift double bed and grabbed hold of the other girl, centering her grip around the waist and shoulders. She then pulled Anna into the same position they'd shared in the alley barely an hour earlier. "Thanks," the girl whispered, her voice weak and raspy.

As Elsa gazed down across Anna's body, she saw the same body she'd admired for so long, only dirty. But it didn't feel the same when she thought about it. If she could have layered her imagination over her actual perception, Anna's body would have looked like the mess Elsa knew her to be in the head for the time being, and it bugged her. There had to be a way to fix this. If she didn't find it, she might as well let Anna die, because no one deserved to endure this kind of treatment for any amount of time.

_No, don't think like that. There has to be a way. Nothing is so bad it can't be fixed. If anyone I know has an idea how to fix this, it's Olaf._

"Alright, Anna, we need to get you a shower, right? Or would you rather I filled the tub so you can relax in it?" Elsa asked the broken girl in her lap. Anna nodded and grabbed a bit of Elsa's dress in her right hand before asking if Elsa could fill the tub. "Of course I can," she said and placed a kiss on top of the other girl's head before slipping out from underneath her. "It'll just be a couple of minutes," she continued and went into the bathroom.

When Elsa had turned on the water and plugged the tub to make sure the water didn't run out, she pulled her phone out of her purse and opened up the SMS service. '_Olaf, I kinda need your help,' _she wrote and hit send. She lit a couple of candles in the bathroom as she waited for Olaf's reply, enjoying the hollow sound of the tub slowly filling. It helped take her mind off things. The phone vibrated on the sink counter, and Elsa picked it up. It was a reply from Olaf, him simply asking what's up. '_Well things are getting going between Anna and I are getting going, but there are some complications. She's gotten herself into a real pickle,' _Elsa sent a message back and turned around to see that the bathtub was almost full now. She turned off the water and put out different kinds of soap for Anna to use. The phone vibrated again.

_- 'With that Hans guy?' _Olaf asked, and once again, Elsa could vividly imagine the venom dripping from Olaf's voice. The short guy wasn't good at being angry or tell people if he didn't like them, but when you got to know him, it was easy to tell when he didn't like something or someone.

_- 'Yeah. he somehow tricked her into doing drugs,' _she replied and then went back out into the hotel room "Bath is ready for you, Anna," she said with a smile and walked over to the shattered girl. "Let's get you out of these clothes and into the bath so we can get you clean," Elsa continued and started helping Anna out of her clothes. She almost felt like she was taking care of a baby, and it bothered her like few things had before. Anna was a grown woman, and even though Elsa liked helping with emotional stuff, Anna should be more than able to take care of herself, at the very least physically.

Elsa got the the helpless girl out of her clothes and into the bathtub. "There we go sweety," she said as she stepped away from the tub and took her phone from the bathroom counter. "Now enjoy the hot water for a few minutes while I go take this call," she said and looked at her phone, pretending someone was calling her. The redhead nodded.

Outside the bathroom, Elsa closed the door with just a sliver of space between the door and the frame, which would enable her to see Anna in the tub while she was away. Walking over to the kitchen, she flipped her old phone open and saw that Olaf had replied to her text. Ignoring it for now, she called her oldest friend instead. The phone beeped the familiar tone a couple of times before he picked up. "Oh, good, you called," Olaf's voice sounded through the speaker. It hadn't even been a week yet since Elsa had left on the tour, but hearing his voice, she realized how much she missed the guy.

- "Hey Olaf," she replied, feeling a smirk spreading across the right side of her face and her eyes watering a bit. It was rare for Elsa to miss someone as much as she apparently had missed Olaf, so she was surprised at her own reaction to his voice. Her response to the reaction was to wipe the tears away with the right arm's sweater sleeve. "I might be in a bit of a pickle," she finished off her greeting and smiled to herself as she looked into the bathroom from her seat on the kitchen counter. Anna had begun washing herself, so it seemed she was capable of taking care of herself for now.

- "Yeah, I kinda figured," a concerned Olaf said on the other end of the line. "I gotta say Elsa, I hadn't anticipated anything like this. Anna seemed like a good girl when I met her." Elsa hopped down from the counter and moved towards the windows where she opened one of the curtains slightly with her fingers and looked outside. The sun was slowly setting.

- "Me neither, Olaf, me neither. But it has happened, and to be honest, I'm not sure what to do," she continued and smiled wistfully to herself.

- "Well, what're your options?"

- "Dunno. I only see two ways. One is easy and gets me out of this immediately, the other is gonna be hard, take a long time, and I'm not sure my mind can handle it"

- "You're thinking of bailing?"

_Yes, I'm tempted to take the easy way out._

- "Yes, no, maybe, I really don't know Olaf. I never wanted to get involved in stuff like this, but I don't wanna leave Anna alone with it either."

- "I see. Flip a coin, heads you stay, tails you leave. Simple right?"

- "And leave it all up to chance? There's no way I'm doing that," Elsa responded. This was one of the hardest choices she'd ever had to make, and Olaf wanted her to just roll the dice and see how it all turned out? "Have you been drinking?"

Olaf chuckled on the other end, his usual hearty little chuckle. "Of course not, but trust me, the right choice will reveal itself to you."

- "Alright Mr. Miyagi, no reason to sound all mysterious," she said, comparing the slightly younger guy to his favorite film character before saying goodbye and closing her phone. And with that, she pulled a coin out of her purse, put it to rest on her thumb and index fingers before flipping it. Watching the coin spin, a million thoughts rushed through her head at the same time, and before it even reached the apex of its ascent, she knew what her choice was.

"Olaf, you sneaky fucker."

* * *

Hey guys! This was a really short one, I know. And I also know it's out of release schedule. But it's just been so long since I updated or even said anything that I wanted you guys to know that this fic is still very much alive, and I also kind of wanted to leave you hanging with a question for once. I've just been very busy making money, and I've also had quite the writer's block for almost a week now, so this might not be up to the standard you guys are used to. I hope you enjoy anyway!


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